Events in Outlook Calendar

Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook

When using Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook (GWSMO), here are some miscellaneous (and mostly minor) differences in Outlook Calendar, when sending invitations, determining ownership, updating events, working with recurring events, or changing time zones.

Meeting invitations

Invitations from Google Calendar don't show all attendees—If you receive a meeting invitation in Outlook from a Google Calendar user, you won't view all attendees in the invitation email. You will, however, have all attendees in your calendar.
People can't always accept forwarded meeting invitations—If you forward a meeting invitation in Outlook to someone who accepts the invitation (by clicking Accept in your email), the event might not be added to the recipient's calendar. This happens if the meeting organizer created the meeting in Google Calendar and unchecked the "Guests can invite others" option.
Requesting invitation responses—If you create a meeting in Outlook and choose not to receive responses from attendees (you don't select the Request Responses option), you might still receive responses. This happens if you turn on Notifications for your calendar in your Google Calendar settings.
Invitations created in Microsoft Exchange and forwarded from Google to Outlook do not retain ownership—If you receive a meeting invitation in Outlook forwarded from a Google Calendar user, that was initially created in Exchange, you’ll receive the ICS file by email but the event is not added to your Outlook calendar. When the ICS file is opened, the calendar event is created with the forwarding Google Calendar user, not the original Exchange creator, as the owner.
Invitations created in Google Calendar and forwarded from Outlook to Outlook retain ownership—If you receive a meeting invitation in Outlook forwarded from another Outlook Calendar user, that was initially created in Google Calendar, you’ll receive the ICS file by email and the event is added to your Outlook calendar. The calendar event is created with the Google Calendar user as the owner.
Invitations created in Outlook Calendar and forwarded from Google to Outlook do not retain ownership—If you receive a meeting invitation in Outlook forwarded from a Google Calendar user, that was initially created in Outlook Calendar, you’ll receive the ICS file by email but the event is not added to your Outlook calendar. When the ICS file is opened, the calendar event is created with the forwarding Google Calendar user, not the original Outlook creator, as the owner.
Invitations created in Google Calendar and forwarded from Outlook to Exchange retain ownership—If you receive a meeting invitation in Exchange forwarded from an Outlook Calendar user, that was initially created in Google Calendar, you’ll receive the ICS file by email and the event is added to your Exchange calendar. The calendar event is created with the Google Calendar user as the owner.
Invitations created in Office 365 and forwarded from Outlook to Google retains ownership—If you receive a meeting invitation in Google Calendar forwarded from an Outlook Calendar user, that was initially created in Office 365, you’ll receive the ICS file by email and the event is added to your Google calendar in GWSMO. If the Automatically add invitations option is turned on, it might also be added to Google Calendar on the web. When the ICS file is received in Outlook with GWSMO, the calendar event is created with the original Office 365 creator, as the owner.
Note that when forwarding the invite from Outlook to Google Calendar, a meeting forward notification is automatically sent to the organizer.
Invitations created in Office 365 and forwarded from Outlook to Exchange retain ownership—If you receive a meeting invitation in Exchange forwarded from an Outlook Calendar user, that was initially created in Office 365, you’ll receive the ICS file by email and the event is added to your Exchange calendar. The calendar event is created with the Office 365 user as the owner.
Note that when forwarding the invite from Outlook to Exchange, a meeting forward notification is automatically sent to the organizer.
Invitations created in Office 365 and forwarded from Outlook to Outlook does not retain ownership—If you receive a meeting invitation in Outlook forwarded from another Outlook Calendar user, that was initially created in Office 365, you’ll receive the ICS file by email and the event is added to your Outlook calendar. When the ICS file is opened, the calendar event is created with the forwarding Outlook Calendar user, not the original Office 365 creator, as the owner.
Note that when forwarding the invite from Outlook to Google Calendar, a meeting forward notification is automatically sent to the organizer.

Updating events

Minor event updates are marked as exceptions—If you update an event in Google Workspace without changing the time or location, for example, by adding a comment, the event in Outlook appears as an exception (the exception icon is shown), even though it really isn't.
Event replies aren't stored in Calendar—When you reply in Outlook to a meeting invitation, you can edit your reply before sending. Your reply is indeed sent via email but it's not stored as a note in the calendar event.
Resource names don't update for previously scheduled events—If your domain administrator changes the name of a conference room or other resource, Outlook users don't get the new name for meetings that have already been scheduled. They will, however, have the new name when attending or scheduling any future meetings.

Recurring events

Maximum number of recurrences—With Google Workspace, a recurring event is limited to 365 recurrences. If you import a daily recurring event from Exchange that was scheduled January 1 2018, the event will stop recurring January 1 2019.
Scheduling a recurring event—If a Google Calendar user schedules a recurring event that begins on a different day than the meeting recurs, Outlook users don't get the first event. For example, if a Google Calendar user schedules a weekly meeting for Monday that recurs every Tuesday thereafter, Outlook users will miss the first meeting. (This is because in Outlook, you can't schedule a recurring meeting that begins on a different day than the remaining series.)
End-of-month recurring events—If a Google Calendar user creates a recurring event on the 31st of every month, Outlook users will get events on the last day of every month (even those with only 30 days). Google Calendar users, however, will view events only in months with 31 days, as the organizer likely intended.
Modifying recurring events doesn't delete exceptions—If you modify a recurring event in Outlook, existing exceptions aren't necessarily deleted even though a dialog says they’ll be. So, if you schedule a weekly meeting at 2 PM, move this week's meeting to 1 PM (creating an exception), then reschedule the entire series to 3 PM, this week's meeting is still at 1 PM. (In Exchange, this week's meeting would be moved to 3 PM.)
You can't remove attendees from an exception—Removing an attendee from an exception to a recurring event, doesn't always remove the attendee.
Declining a recurring event from Outlook 2003—If an attendee using Outlook 2003 declines an invitation to a recurring event organized by an Outlook 2007 user, the 2003 user is removed from the organizer's attendee list, rather than listed as declined.
Moving an all-day recurring event—If you schedule a recurring all-day event, such as a daily Out of Office event for a week-long vacation, then move one recurrence to another day that's part of the series (say, you move Monday's event to Tuesday), Outlook will still allow only one event on Tuesday. A Google Calendar user, however, has two all-day events on Tuesday.

Time zone changes

New time zone rules can affect meeting times—Google Workspace uses current time zone rules to do UTC-to-local time conversions, not those that apply when the event is originally created. This can affect meeting times in countries/regions where time zone rules tend to change. For example, if you create a 2 PM meeting in New Zealand when the time zone is GMT +13, and New Zealand's time zone later changes to GMT +12, the meeting will now show up at 1 PM.
Choosing a new time zone affects all-day events—Unlike in Exchange, if you have an all-day event on your calendar in Google Workspace, then change your time zone, the event is still shown as an all-day event. In Exchange, by contrast, the event becomes a 24-hour event that crosses day boundaries.

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